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How... どう

Here is a very useful question word -- どう dou -- Let's look at ways of using dou.

どうですか。 dou desu ka? How is (it)? [Use this for asking about food, or anything that is being done now]
どうでしたか。 dou deshita ka? How was (it)? [Use this to find out about past experiences - movie, last night's date, molded pizza you just ate...]

OTHER WAYS!

どうやって？ dou yatte? How do you do it? [Ask this when you are not sure how to do something]
どうしましたか。 dou shimashita ka? What happened? [Ask this if someone looks sad or something has happened]

どうしよう dou shiyou What shall (I or we) do? [This is often used when you can't make a decision and want help... doushiyou, ne!]

どうするの？dou suru no? What will you do? [When you want to encourage someone to make a decision -- Well, what will you do?]

Isn't it? でしょう

If you want to state your opinion and then encourage someone to agree, use deshou.

フィリピンは暑いでしょう? firipin wa atsui deshou? The Philippines is hot, isn't it?
痛いでしょう？ itai deshou? It hurts, doesn't it? [You see someone who has just slammed their head in the low doorway]

And another common usage is どうでしょう meaning 'how about...' or 'what do you think about'

うどんはどうでしょう？ udon wa dou deshou? How about some Udon?

said といいました

Meet the wonderful 'と to.' Mr. と can act as a quotation marker ("). Don't confuse this with the と that means 'and.' Very often if you are quoting someone or some source. This is best shown with examples:

Plan to 予定、つもり

If you plan on speaking Japanese these two words are very useful.予定 yotei and つもり tsumori

予定 yotei and つもり are very similar in meaning and usage. 予定 conveys more of a `schedule` feel whereas つもり is more of a `conviction of doing something. All you have to do is to stick either on the end of a verb (simple form)...

To add つもり or 予定 to any verb just find the simple form...
日本に行くつもり/予定です。nihon ni iku tsumori (or yotei) desu. I intend to go to Japan. [if you use tsumori, you `intend` to go one way or another; if you use yotei you already have a hard schedule set to leave at a certain time.]

Here is how you add it to a する verb
あなたと結婚するつもり/予定です。anata to kekkon suru tsumori (or yotei) desu. I intend to marry you.

You can also use it with nouns by sticking a の before the tsumori and after adjectives. But for now concentrate on the verb usage.

Punctuation 。 、「 」

Punctuation is in many ways similar to English. You have a comma, called a てんor とうてん(読点)and a period at the end of a sentence called a まる or くてん(句点)．The Japanese quotation mark 「 」 is called かぎカッコ(鉤括弧).

Let`s quickly go over some common Punctuation thingies:

。 the まる acts just like our period by ending the sentence. It looks like a ball - maru

、 the てん acts like a comma. This is often found after は as in わたしは、あなたが好きです。 (I, like you)

「 and 」 These brackets（かぎカッコ） hold quotations and work like our "" marks．「ママ、早く来て」とその子は叫んだ。

Particles Part 2

から from / because / after doing

から kara can be from (a starting point in time or place)

アメリカからきました。
amerika kara kimashita.
(I) came from America.

かいぎは８時からです。
kaigi wa hachiji kara desu.
The meeting is from 8.

から kara can also be used after the -て form of a verb to mean after some action has been performed.